Hello there,
I have spent 2 years of my life perfecting two very long and complex
scripts and now I am ready to market them. I would like the script to
start in a one week demo mode and then require a serial number, just
like any commercial program. Is this possible and how would I do it?
Also, I want to hide the code so that users cannot see (or alter) it.
Thank you for your suggestions
Yan
make a hidden file in the preference folder ala http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=200507242257365&query=invisible
that contains multiple lines
eg
as in first use on oct 25, 2005 and not registered under key 00000000
then just read that file each time on script startup
If you’re not using AppleScript Studio, you can also store information in the properties of the script so that they persist to the next time the script is run. If you use a preference file, you can store its contents in your script as well and compare the file contents and the variables to see if they have been tampered with.
Make sure to save the script as run-only. 
I realize this is an old post but I’ll ask anyway. The creation of a hidden file will work if users are illegally installing the software to other computers. What happens if a user purchases the software, and later decides to get a refund of the software in say, 20 days. RIght now, I have nothing in place for my software to stop them from using the program even after a refund is issued. I would like to have a script that does a one-time check (perhaps with via web service) to a database (php) remotely to see if that user is still registered. This only needs to be done once since I am offer a 30-day guarantee. So, after 30 days, there needs to be a check.
I’ve been pondering about this for the last few days and would appreciate some insight. My software is built with Applescript Studio using only AS. I am aware of Aquaticprime but I know very little (ok, close to nothing) about Cocoa and ObjC.
thanks,
Marlon
Marlon, my suggestion is don’t worry about it. If a person wants to cheat you they can. You can’t stop them. I don’t care how careful you are or how clever you code your application to prevent cheating… you can’t stop them. Ask yourself, can microsoft and adobe products be cracked? The answer is yes. If they can’t stop cheaters then how are you supposed to stop cheaters?
The bottom line is you’ll spend lots of time trying to stop cheaters and in the end you’ll fail anyway. As such my suggestion would be to not even waste your time. If somebody wants a refund then just give it to them and ask them to remove the software and be done with it. Your time will be better spent improving your software than trying to prevent cheaters.
I strongly agree with Hank. Think about (besides Microsoft & Adobe) all the music, videos, games, etc. that come with some form of DRM. Doesn’t get the record and game indusries anywhere; it just pisses off their honest customers.
Go with the hidden preference file and you’ll be fine.
Hank and Adam,
You’ve saved me the time and effort in trying to protect my inexpensive product. Yes, the hidden preference file route seems logical at this point. If anyone can point to a script to do this, I’d appreciate it.
thanks,
Marlon